The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in East Darfur have released 26 members of Sudanese police a month after detaining them in Abu Karinka locality on accusations of spying for junta in Port Sudan and receiving monthly payments.
Well-informed sources told Darfur24 the RSF convened a special tribunal for the 26 officers, fining each 200,000 Sudanese pounds and warning them against communicating with the military junta headed by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander of the SAF.
Hundreds of Sudanese police officers and their families are currently in East Darfur and off duty after the RSF seized control of the state in November 2023.
Since August, RSF units in East Darfur have carried out sweeping arrests of SAF junta personnel and politicians across Abu Jabra, El Daein, Bahr al-Arab, Adila and Abu Karinka. Some detainees were later freed, while dozens received prison sentences and were transferred to jails in Nyala, alongside financial penalties.
The RSF maintains full control over East Darfur, where it has set up a civil administration to deliver services, as well as a judiciary, prosecution service and a police force it calls the “Federal Police.” It has urged Sudanese police present in the state to join this force.
